


Not Just A Sock Fetish

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 5x22 Related, AND HIS SOCKS ARE IMPORTANT TO HIM BECAUSE OF IT, But it's not just a fetish which is what I write about in this, F/M, Oliver Queen Has A Sock Fetish, Oliver Queen Has PTSD, RESPECT THE SOCKS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 23:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: "I need to buy some socks. Everybody has their thing. I need socks. Bad.”It's not just a sock fetish. Oliver has a reason for needing and loving socks.





	Not Just A Sock Fetish

**Author's Note:**

> YES, I WROTE A FIC ABOUT OLIVER AND HIS LOVE OF SOCKS. DEAL WITH IT. SUPPORT OLIVER QUEEN AND HIS LOVE OF SOCKS, EVERYBODY. (It’s Olicity as well)

Oliver loves socks.

It sounds absolutely ridiculous. Probably because it is, to most people. But he’s completely serious about it. People can scoff and laugh and joke about it as much as they want, but they’ll never know the real reason why he has such an adoration for socks.

Oliver doesn’t just love socks. He _needs_ them.

Oliver didn’t have socks on Lian Yu. The North China climate was not particularly warm, and so when winter came, with the harsh cold winds, sleet and snow, his feet often froze. He came near to losing his toes several times over, the small digits going painfully numb and blue. He’d burnt them in the flames of small fires multiple times over, desperately hoping to get feeling back into them.

_“I need to buy some socks. Everybody has their thing. I need socks. Bad.”_

Except socks aren’t just his thing. They’re a security blanket for him. He has PTSD, as a result of the trauma he went through during his five years away. He admits it. And his need for socks is a PTSD tick, personal to him. Socks give Oliver reassurance that his feet aren’t going to get cold and his toes won’t freeze and fall off. So yeah, he loves socks. He’s not scared or bothered to admit it to his team either. Sure, Lance and Thea give him weird looks, Diggle narrowing his eyes and Curtis just aiming a ‘ _dude you weird_ ’ glance towards him.

But Felicity ducks her head and _smiles._

She knows a little bit about his love of socks. During their vacation, Oliver liked to buy socks in every city and country they went to. It was basically his version of collecting snowglobes. But with socks. She humoured him, even helping him choose some special Hawaiian style ones on their Polynesian Island tour, and some fluffy, natural ones made from alpaca wool from their venture into Peru. The fact that Felicity just accepts his love of socks, even grins at him about it, sends thrills through his body. Oliver didn’t think he could love her anymore, but when she bows her head and smiles, his heartbeat quickens and he falls even further into his devotion to her.

When they battle Chase, Evelyn, Black Siren and Talia Al Ghul on Lian Yu, it’s a bloody and exhausting fight, both physically and mentally. The entire team is tired when they finally, finally return to Star City. Lance hugs Oliver and calls him ‘son’ and Thea cries grateful tears into Oliver’s shoulder. Rene, Curtis and Dinah tell him he’s the best leader they could wish for. Diggle embraces him and Felicity… Felicity kisses him. He thinks it might just be the best day of his life, rivalled only by that day when Felicity agreed to marry him at Christmas, over a year and a half ago now.

But when they settle back into their lives in Starling City, the team buys Oliver a boxes and crates’ worth of socks, all in different colours and styles and textures, and Oliver _cries_. Tears of happiness. Because he now has over fifty pairs of socks, gifted to him out of love. Love and _acceptance_.

“Your weird sock fetish isn’t going to drive us away, Ollie,” Thea says. “We love you, however strange you can be.”

Oliver is slightly offended, but he’s too flattered and relieved for that offence to really stick too long.

When Oliver and Felicity move back in together, Felicity greets him at the door with a present. The box is carefully wrapped in emerald green tissue paper with a little white bow and Oliver simply vibrates in excitement as they sit down on the couch, thighs and elbows brushing, and she softly tells him to open it.

Oliver opens the present, and as soon as he sees the contents, tears spring to his eyes and he tackles Felicity down to the couch. He slams his lips onto hers passionately, sliding one arm around her waist to pull her flush against him. “I love you,” he whispers.

They head off into the bedroom, _their_ bedroom, leaving the gift lying on the couch.

It’s a pair of green socks with little black arrows on them.

They were folded around Felicity’s engagement ring, with a little note written in red pen saying “ _It’ll always be yes,_ ” curled inside of it.


End file.
